A Path Toward Justice

As attorney Paul W. Lee receives honorary degree this month, he reflects on his pioneering career

As one of the first Asian American partners at a major Boston law firm in the early 1980s, Paul W. Lee has been at the forefront of the convergence of law and social justice. Now, after decades of professional and advocacy work around Boston, Lee is being recognized with an honorary degree from William James College; he was also among several prominent Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders honored by Embrace Boston last month.

Lee traces the start of his legal career to his studies at Columbia University during the height of the Vietnam War.

“Protesting the war really opened up my social justice consciousness,” Paul told Sampan during a recent interview.

Around that time, he decided to make the transition from engineering to law.

“I went into (law) to help people of color, social justice, my community. I knew my skills would be useful, that a law firm would be a good platform and open doors if I needed to look for help for the community.”

Paul W. Lee; Photo Adam Smith

At the time, Asian Americans were a rarity in the legal profession, Lee said.

“When I started out working at a law firm in New York, I was the only Asian in a law firm of 200 and one of four lawyers of color,” Lee recalled. “I worked there for five years then came back to Boston and joined Goodwin Proctor in 1981. At that time, the firm had 100 lawyers. There was me and another lawyer of color…. There were no women partners, either.”

“There was a lot of learning on my part on how to code switch,” he said. “How to talk in the right situations about the right social things to make people comfortable. I learned all that as well as learning the skills of being a lawyer.”

When Lee became a partner at the firm, he and two others became the first Asian American partners in Boston.

“Along the way, we formed the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts,” he said, “to provide support, to mentor younger lawyers so that folks could see us.”

At first, the group had around 20 members — which included most of the Asian American lawyers in town at the time. “Now our membership is over 600,” Paul said. “Annual banquets are attended by over 400 people. There are Asian American lawyers in every major law firm in town. We feel like we’ve had pretty good penetration.”

Issues remain, of course, in the profession.

“The promotion part is still a challenge,” Lee said. “Getting mentors, sponsors, who will support you inside is still a challenge. It still has a ways to go. But we are really proud of how far the Asian American Lawyers Association has come.”

In addition to his work with the Lawyers Association, Lee has also contributed to many other organizations, including the Asian Community Development Corporation, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Lee attributes his motivation for public service to his childhood and family.

“When my parents emigrated from China and settled in Chinatown, they were helped a lot by the locals, family associations, social service organizations. I always remember how important that help was,” Lee said.

As a law firm partner, Lee felt he was in a position to give back to the community.

“I wanted to use my position, my skills, my law firm platform to benefit the community.”

And that is precisely what he has done, especially through his role as co-founder and chair of the Asian Community Fund at the Boston Foundation.

“We formed the ACF to bring the whole Asian American community in Massachusetts together,” he explained. “There were concerns that we were not visible enough, that we’re considered to be a model minority and a perpetual foreigner. A lot of that has to do with the fact that we’re not really unified as a community.”

This was the key issue that ACF addressed.

“We emphasize to all Asian Americans that we’re all part of one community. In doing that we get more visibility, advocate collectively for our needs, discover our issues and concerns and see how we can address them.”

The fund now has an advisory committee of 25, with Danielle Kim acting as executive director. Their major programs include the Asian Business Empowerment Council led by Q.J. Shi, which assists and advocates for Asian-owned small businesses; the Asian American and Pacific Islander Arts and Culture Collaborative, which brings together and highlights Asian American and Pacific Islander artists; and a mental health collaborative that focuses on bringing counseling to other Asian American organizations in the community, whether it be their clients or own staff.

“Our philosophy is not to invent new programs but to take existing programs and help them grow and amplify,” Lee explained. The fund works to facilitate collaboration among organizations, “rather than each organization pursuing its own solution,” he continued. “Working together now is much more productive.”

To that end, ACF has an annual program that provides grants to Asian American serving organizations.

“We’re in the middle of the process now,” he said, “(with) as much as 700,000 dollars in grants this year. In the five years we’ve done it we’ll have put out 2.3 million dollars to Asian organizations.”

As for his honorary degree that he’ll be receiving from William James College, Lee said that while he’s not a mental health professional or expert, he has tried to learn about mental health issues.

“Mental health is one of the major issues and challenges in our society right now. In the Asian American community there’s a real stigma around mental health. People don’t like to talk about it and are reluctant to find treatment for it. But when they do seek treatment, it’s really important to have culturally sensitive providers. There are language and cultural needs for the providers to really understand what’s going on with the client.”

This is where William James College comes in, by placing an emphasis on preparing professionals to be culturally responsive. “WJC does a superb job in providing this cultural competency service,” Lee said. “(Through) diversifying the student body, teaching ways to communicate…. How important a role WJC plays makes me really proud to receive an honorary degree from them.”

Lee was also included as a 2026 honoree in Embrace Boston’s “Living Histories of Color: Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Legacy Series” exhibit last month. Lee was praised for his civic contributions and community efforts alongside the late Frederick Hom Dow, the first Chinese American admitted to the Massachusetts Bar; Helen Chin Schlichte, a prominent civic leader; Nick Chau, a Chinatown businessman; Suzanne Lee, a well-known educator and activist; Tina Zhu Xi Caruso, a photographer; and Massachusetts Sen. Vanna Howard.

For Lee, his work in social justice is inextricable from his identity as a lawyer. “You learn some pretty amazing skills—analytical, speaking, but really people skills. Skills to bring people together,” Paul concluded. “That’s what I got from being a lawyer.”